COVINGTON  A concert and prayer service here will mark the 57th anniversary of when the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan.

The event will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, 12th Street and Madison Avenue.

The program will feature the music of Sakura Ladies Chorus, The Kentucky Kids Bell Choir and Anawim of Covington. A nondenominational prayer for peace in our world will be offered.

Tristate residents have marked the anniversary with prayers for peace each year since 1985. This year's event is sponsored by the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in cooperation with the Japan America Society of Greater Cincinnati.

Brighton Center seeks people to help needy

NEWPORT  Brighton Center's Family Center is recruiting volunteers for an assistance program for families. Volunteers can spend as little as two hours a month on jobs such as bagging food, or sorting and shelving clothing for distribution to families in need.

Family Center volunteers can work anytime between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Groups and individuals of all ages are encouraged to get involved, and families can work together.

However, the Family Center most needs volunteers Mondays and Tuesdays. To volunteer, call Dare Miller at (859) 491-8303 ext. 2032.

Church never saw donated car proceeds

LOUISVILLE - Three Jefferson County residents pleaded innocent to charges of failing to pay more than $17,000 to Wayside Christian Mission from the sale of 58 cars donated to the charity.

Patricia Siegrist, 48; her husband, Paul Siegrist, 51; and Tara Gackenbach, 30, are each charged with 58 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property worth more than $300.

According to prosecutor Allan Cobb, the three had a contract to sell cars donated to Wayside, which shelters the homeless and provides other services for the needy. Wayside was to get the proceeds, except for a fee for the sale, Mr. Cobb said.

Wayside didn't get the money, Mr. Cobb said.

All three pleaded innocent at their arraignment Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Patricia Siegrist and Ms. Gackenbach also are each charged with one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument.

A pretrial conference is set for Sept. 16.

Transpark opponents press on with appeal

BOWLING GREEN - A Warren County man appealed a Franklin County Circuit Court ruling Monday that upheld a bond issue to buy land for an industrial park.

The proposed Kentucky TriModal Transpark has been a source of debate because some maintain it is a threat to nearby farmland and Mammoth Cave National Park.

On June 27, Franklin County Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden upheld the process for the approval of the $25 million bond issue.

Joey Roberts appealed Mr. Crittenden's order to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Money from the bond issue would be used for the proposed 4,000-acre industrial park, which initially would be served by road and rail access and might include a replacement airport for Warren County. The Inter-Modal Transportation Authority is the agency developing the park in 240-acre increments near Oakland.

State finalizing buy of former Hyundai site

FRANKFORT - Gov. Paul Patton expects to complete the purchase of about 1,600 acres in Hardin County by October as the state tries to avoid another missed opportunity like the failed bid for the Hyundai Motor Corp. plant.

Gov. Patton said Monday that the site will be used to lure a major manufacturer, but he was unsure whether it would be another automaker.

Kentucky economic development officials have said they would proceed with an $8 million bond issue to buy the land for economic development. The bond issue would require either Hardin County Fiscal Court or the nonprofit Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation Inc. to buy the property.

Police official files discrimination suit

LOUISVILLE - A Jefferson County police lieutenant has filed a lawsuit that claims he was a victim of reverse discrimination when a woman was promoted to captain last year instead of him.

Lt. Ricky Brewer claims in his suit that the defendants, Jefferson County and Police Chief William Carcara, refused to promote him because of his gender. The suit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court July 16, demands that Mr. Brewer be promoted and paid unspecified damages.

The police department does not comment on pending litigation, said Officer Stacey Redmon, a spokeswoman. Ms. Redmon did say that Mr. Brewer's most recent assignment has been in the special-investigation unit.

Ms. Redmon also said Mr. Carcara is expected to announce another round of promotions Thursday. When he does, he will have promoted four white men, a black man and a white woman to the rank of captain in the past 2
years, she said.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Brewer, who is white, was placed in the top band of candidates to be considered for promotion to captain in 2000. But July 6, 2000, Mr. Brewer was informed by the chief that Mr. Carcara needed to promote a female and a black before he got to (Mr. Brewer) for promotion, the lawsuit said.

Paducah jail-crowding forces prisoner move

PADUCAH - McCracken County Judge-Executive Danny Orazine said state officials have urged the county to apply for a waiver that will allow the county jail to house 60 more prisoners than now permitted.

The county jail is now allowed to keep 282 prisoners. A recent state inspection found 409 inmates at the jail, prompting the state to say it would remove 70 Class D felons - minimum-security prisoners who are serving state sentences of one to five years in county jails.

The move would have cost the county about $700,000 a year.

Thirty-eight state inmates had been moved as of late Monday, county Jailer Cliff Gill said. The Kentucky Department of Corrections is taking about 50 state prisoners out of the jail, which will cost McCracken County about $500,000 a year.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Lisa Carnahan said department officials expect to approve a yearlong waiver for 60 more beds while additional jail capacity is constructed. Department officials toured one site that could be renovated into a minimum-security dorm, she said.

The magic (population) number will be 342, Ms. Carnahan said.

Corrections Department inspectors cited the jail last year for crowding, and Mr. Gill said he was optimistic that the jail's authorized capacity would be increased.